Americans faced complex problems after the Civil War. Whites and blacks struggled to define the rights of freed African Americans. Politicians disagreed about how best to restore the Union. To heal the nation, President Abraham Lincoln offered generous peace terms to the former Confederate states. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was even more lenient toward the former rebels. Taking advantage of Johnson’s lenience, southern legislatures restricted African Americans’ rights.People: John Wilkes Booth, Andrew Johnson Text: Reconstruction Begins, Black Codes Video: Lincoln's Assassination
President Johnson’s support of the former confederates and his failure to protect African Americans’ rights angered even Moderate Republicans, who had hoped to cooperate with the president. As a result, the Moderates in Congress deserted him and joined forces with the Radicals. Together they took over Reconstruction. People: Thaddeus Stevens, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
While conflict over black suffrage continued, Congress imposed its Reconstruction plan. In 1867, under the provisions of the Reconstruction Acts, the southern states held conventions to draft new constitutions, and blacks as well as whites participated. Unwilling to accept African Americans as equals, many white southerners turned to violence. By Reconstruction’s end in 1877, conservative whites once again firmly held power.People: Samuel J. Tilden, Rutherford B. Hayes
During the 1880s white business leaders began to speak of the “New” South, urging that the region move away from its dependence on cotton toward a more varied economy. Inspired by this dream of a New South, southerners worked to build up the region’s manufacturing enterprises. For years, however, many southerners remained in rural poverty. And for blacks in the South, racial discrimination made life harsher still.People: Booker T. Washington, Ida Wells-Burnett Links: Become a Sharecropper, Reconstruction Summary Map
Postbellum America: Reconstructing the Nation
1. Presidential Reconstruction
Americans faced complex problems after the Civil War. Whites and blacks struggled to define the rights of freed African Americans. Politicians disagreed about how best to restore the Union. To heal the nation, President Abraham Lincoln offered generous peace terms to the former Confederate states. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was even more lenient toward the former rebels. Taking advantage of Johnson’s lenience, southern legislatures restricted African Americans’ rights.People: John Wilkes Booth, Andrew JohnsonText: Reconstruction Begins, Black Codes
Video: Lincoln's Assassination
ASSIGNMENT: 13.1
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2. Congressional Reconstruction
President Johnson’s support of the former confederates and his failure to protect African Americans’ rights angered even Moderate Republicans, who had hoped to cooperate with the president. As a result, the Moderates in Congress deserted him and joined forces with the Radicals. Together they took over Reconstruction.People: Thaddeus Stevens, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
ASSIGNMENT: 13.2
3. Reconstruction in the South
While conflict over black suffrage continued, Congress imposed its Reconstruction plan. In 1867, under the provisions of the Reconstruction Acts, the southern states held conventions to draft new constitutions, and blacks as well as whites participated. Unwilling to accept African Americans as equals, many white southerners turned to violence. By Reconstruction’s end in 1877, conservative whites once again firmly held power.People: Samuel J. Tilden, Rutherford B. HayesASSIGNMENT: 13.3
4. The New South
During the 1880s white business leaders began to speak of the “New” South, urging that the region move away from its dependence on cotton toward a more varied economy. Inspired by this dream of a New South, southerners worked to build up the region’s manufacturing enterprises. For years, however, many southerners remained in rural poverty. And for blacks in the South, racial discrimination made life harsher still.People: Booker T. Washington, Ida Wells-BurnettLinks: Become a Sharecropper, Reconstruction Summary Map
ASSIGNMENT: 13.4
PROJECT: Jim Crow WebQuest
TEST 13: Study Guide